Claude Gaveau was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Gaveau was almost born into art, as his grandfather was the creator of the green houses of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.One of his uncles, Emile, was a painter and another, Marcel a cabinetmaker.
At the age of five he remembers the morning when Uncle Marcel put an easel, a canvas and a box of colors in his hands and together they both painted the landscape around geysers.
Claude Gaveau seems to talk about birth date as it was from that day on, when painting became a necessity for him.